May 28, ’11 –  Yeah baby!  We did it!  3,760 miles from our front door in Ashland, OR to our hotel entrance in Washington DC and right on schedule.  We arrived in D.C. to 89 degrees and clear blue skies and our first sighting was that of Georgetown University, on the hill overlooking the Potomac River, and it was a special moment as we have so many fond memories of Dustin’s four years at Georgetown.

Remember?  I am a lover of history, especially American history and the settling of the American west, so you’ll understand why today’s (Saturday, May 21) history tour was a HUGELY happy day for me.

East to Wyoming.  Once we settled in to our rental house, in Ashland, we had about six weeks to call our own before we had to get down to business.  What to do?!  What to do?!  Road Trip!

Way back in another lifetime when we were much (much) younger, we were married in Honolulu, HI.  Just the two of us, a judge, and the judges’ clerks who served as our witnesses.  It wasn’t a formal wedding by any stretch of the imagination, but it was our wedding and it stuck!

Yosemite has been a big huge significant influential part of our lives.  I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve visited Yosemite, long before the days of digital, that’s for certain.  Many, many years ago we took to traveling for the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend, almost always to the Sierra’s, the CA gold country and many visits to Yosemite.

October 8 & 9, ’04 – Abi and I rented a car and quickly learned to drive on the “wrong” side of the road.  Actually, it wasn’t the driving that was the hard part, it was turning on the blinker when you wanted the windshield wiper!  Everything is opposite of what you know, that’s the challenge!  Oh, and driving round-abouts when you’re on the wrong side of the road, those are tough.  We drove our rental to the Tongariro National Park, the land of the Lord of the Rings.

October 8, ’04 – Our friend, LeRyna, was living in New Zealand for two years while studying for her Masters Degree.  She drove north and we drove south, or vice versa, and we met in the middle at Tongariro.  Later that evening we had at “The Station” and it was surprisingly fine dining and we had a grand time, especially when the train roared by and the whole building quivered just a bit.

October 9, ’04 – We originally made reservations to take the train from Auckland to the national park.  The owner of the lodge where we stayed overnight suggested we drive instead.  Although we lost our train ticket deposit, and the train trip would have been fun, we were so thankful we drove.  We would have missed so much!

Here’s a photo array of our Ohinetonga Loop Walk.